Despite her mother's protests, Fiona continued to be friends with Van and the other. Even as the school year came and passed, she continued to build on a friendship with the trio. It seemed to be what she looked forward to most when she got up each day to go to school was being able to see them.
Her mother wasn't the least bit pleased when she learned of what Fiona was doing despite her protests. She was now starting to blame Fiona's father for making Fiona such a disobedient child and made that very vocal to Fiona.
"Why do you keep disobeying me Fiona? I'm your mother and you have constantly ignored my warning over and over again!" Claire Lynette growled out as she watched her daughter rushing around the house trying to get everything ready for the first day of her sophomore year.
"Because they're my friends mom. You can't just tell me to stop being friends with them," Fiona said sadly as she grabbed her backpack. It was starting to become routine to have this argument with her mother and it was really starting to get to Fiona. She wished it would stop.
Claire growled as she watched her daughter walking towards the door. "Fine! Do what you want, but don't come crawling to me when things go bad!" she basically yelled out before she walked out of the room.
Fiona breathed a sigh of relief at her words. Sure she may not accept her friends but it sounded like she was getting tired of arguing with Fiona. Maybe now Fiona could go out with her friends without getting and earful from her mother.
Fiona didn't know that her mother had other things planned instead of giving up. 'Van will not interfere with her life. She keeps it a secret but I know she harbors a crush for that wretched boy!' she thought angrily as she dug through a drawer before grinning as she found what she was looking for.
Dan Flyheight took a deep breath as he tied his tie for his first day at his new job. Since he first lost his job, he had several different ones but they always seemed to end a few weeks after with him getting fired for some reason. "I sure hope this job lasts longer than the previous one," he muttered under his breath.
Karin smiled as she walked up behind her husband and helped him adjust his tie a bit. "Don't worry. They seemed really eager to have you this time. I'm sure that everything will go great. Just be your normal charming self," she said kissing him on the cheek before she headed towards the bedroom to wake her lazy son. She knocked on the door hard a few times before yelling, "Van!" she grinned when she heard someone fall out of the bed on the other side of the door.
She saw him rush out of the room a few seconds later since he was running a really late and he only had a few minutes before Fiona would be there to pick him up like what had become a tradition between the two of them. Karin had to say that she adored the young woman that had become friends with Van.
Van wasn't the only one running behind that day. Karin had woken up late that day which was the reason that she couldn't wake up Van on time. Dan seemed to be the only one that was on time but he was too busy to do anything.
Dan Flyheight sighed as he made a few last minute adjustments. "I'm not worried about what they would do but what he would do. Ever since I left my job, my old boss has ruined every opportunity at a good job. He's the reason that I can't keep a job," Dan said as he picked up his briefcase.
Karin gasped when she heard what her husband said. "He hadn't told her anything about this before then. "Oh Dan, why didn't you tell me?" she asked looking at him sadly as she hugged him from behind. She knew how much he wanted to be able to take care of his family and how much this job hunt was really hurting him.
"I'm sorry dear. I just didn't want to worry you with all that's been happening. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll leave me alone this time. I really need to keep this job," he said grabbing a quick bite to eat before he kissed his wife goodbye and was out the door before she could respond.
Karin felt sorry for her husband. He worked so hard to just put food on the table and clothes on their backs and yet he couldn't keep a job because of all that his old boss was doing to him. 'Please let this job work this time,' she begged in her head as she saw her son come running down the stairs.
"Hi mom, bye mom," Van said in a hurry as he just grabbed a piece of toast and ran out of the house at full speed. He was lucky because Fiona had just come walking up to the house just as he exited it. "Hey Fiona. We better get going," he said taking a deep breath of relief.
Fiona looked at him curiously and raised an eyebrow. "You woke up late again, didn't you?" she asked with an amused look as she saw him hang his head and just nod as they started to walk towards the school.
"I slept through my alarm clock and my mom woke up late as well," Van sighed as he shifted his backpack on his back. The two started to walk in the direction of the school. "You're later than usual as well I see," he said with a grin since Fiona always made sure she was early or on time.
Fiona gave a nervous chuckle at the mention of this and blushed slightly. "I had a bit of an argument with my mom before I left. I guess I just lost track of time because of it," she said shifting her backpack on her shoulder.
"That would hold anyone back," Van muttered to himself. "So tell me Fiona. Was it just the usual argument or did you finally do something to intentionally piss her off?" Van asked with a grin as his hand came down on her shoulder. He knew Fiona wouldn't do something like that to anyone but he liked to joke around.
"The usual," Fiona said with a sigh as her body appeared to sag a bit for a few seconds. "Why does she want to run my life like this? It's mine to choose yet she thinks she can choose my friends for me," she said with a frown as her hold on her backpack tightened.
"You can't teach an old dog new tricks Fiona, especially one like your mom. It's not just you. She'll tell the sun to stop shining if she gets annoyed enough with it," Van said and the two of them started to chuckle at mere thought of Claire doing something like that.
"Better not hear her say that Van. She finds it offensive if she's called old," Fiona said although there was already a serious issue between Van and Claire this one time that she called her and old woman. She banned him from her property for the fiftieth time in a row and yet he was still coming over but never went inside of the house.
They turned into the school a few minutes later and headed towards their lockers which were very conveniently placed next to each other. They somehow weren't surprised to see Irvine and Moonbay waiting there for them already. The two did just barely make it before the bell.
"There you two are!" Moonbay said walking over to them and wrapped her arms around both of their shoulders. "We were beginning to wonder if you just decided to skip school," she said with a laugh leading the two of them towards the classroom without letting them stop at their lockers.
"I couldn't do that Moonbay!" Fiona said looking slightly appalled at the mere idea of it. "It wouldn't make a very good impression on the teachers if I was to skip," she said as the four of them took their seats in the back of the room. Even Fiona got bored with classes sometimes so they were able to talk quietly back there without being heard by their teachers.
"You know, if you two keep hanging around with each other so much then people will start thinking that you're dating," Irvine said with a grin putting his feet up on his desk and staring up at the ceiling.
Van and Fiona both seemed to turn a light shade of crimson at the mention of this. "No way!" Van pretty much yelled out which caught the attention of the rest of the students in the class while they waited for their teacher to show up. "Fiona and I are just friends!" he said in a hushed yell so as to not attract so much attention to himself again.
"Are you so sure?" Moonbay teased poking at the two of them. She knew Fiona had a bit of a crush on Van but she wasn't sure how large of a crush it was. "The two of you do everything together. Do you bathe together as well?" she continued to tease as Irvine started to laugh really hard.
This time Van and Fiona turned so red that they looked like tomatoes. "Moonbay I swear if you don't shut up then I'm going to strangle you!" Van threatened while Fiona tried to bring her face back to it's normal color.
Van suddenly smirked as an idea hit him. "What about you and Irvine? You two hang out just as much as we do," he said thinking the he'd managed to turn the tables on the two of them. He hated how they teased him and Fiona.
Moonbay just grinned and went over and hugged Irvine. Irvine just looked at her like she was crazy. "Didn't you know? Irvine and I are madly in love," Moonbay said but it was really obvious that she was just fooling around just by the tone of voice she was using.
Van just groaned and rolled his eyes. "You don't take anything seriously, do you Moonbay?" he asked placing his forehead on the desk. He thought he had her there but she still managed to make a fool out of him.
"I think the two of you would make a cute couple though," Fiona spoke up with a bright smile on her face. "You two are so much alike. You should start going out," she said looking at their faces and she could've sworn that she saw red on their faces for a brief second.
"What are you crazy!" Moonbay yelled after shaking her head. "Like I would ever want to go out with Irvine!" she yelled thinking it to be one of the stupidest ideas around. "It's never gonna happen Fiona. He just doesn't meet my standards," Moonbay said giving Fiona a playful glare.
Van grinned seeing how flustered Moonbay was starting to get. "Getting awfully defensive Moonbay. There wouldn't happen to be anything that you're hiding from us would there?" he said with a grin but it stopped when a book came into contact with his face.
"Van!" Fiona said helping him up as he clutched a very sore spot on his head where the book collided with his face. He appeared to be just fine besides that. "You didn't have to throw a book at him Moonbay!" she said but she saw Moonbay grinning once again and knew this had something to do with her and Van. Luckily she was saved from hearing it when the teacher walked into the classroom and started to take attendance.
Fiona came home with a heavy sigh that day and dropped her bag next to the door and took a seat on the couch. Moonbay was really getting to be too much with her teasing after Fiona ran to help Van after he got hit by the book. She was making it out to be much more than it actually was.
"Oh good you're home," the voice of her mother said as she came walking out of the kitchen. It seemed to be a little too happy considering the argument that the two of them had just that morning.
Fiona wasn't really sure why her mother was so happy with her right then. She went out for a bite to eat with Van and the others after school and she was happy up till now but something felt wrong and it made her feel like something was going to happen. She just hoped that this wasn't something bad that she was going to regret listening to later. "Is there something you wanted mother?" Fiona asked as politely as she could even though she was still angry with her mother.
"Actually yes. I have some really great news! I planned to tell you earlier but you took your time getting home," she said with as she saw that the clock said that it was nearly six. "I got this interesting call from a very nice sounding gentleman. It surprised me that he asked about you. He asked me if it was ok if he maybe took you out to dinner later today and I said that it was just fine!" she said as her smile broadened despite that look that crossed Fiona's face.
Fiona's eyes widened at the mention of this and she stood up very quickly. "Don't you think you should've talked to me about this first! It really is my choice to go out with someone anyways!" Fiona yelled at her mother but it didn't seem to take away from the smile on her mother's face.
Claire's smile just seemed to become larger. "There's no need to make such a fuss over this Fiona. He sounded like a really nice guy and he's supposed to be pretty rich as well. You should be happy about this," she said in a calm voice compared to that of her daughter's angry voice.
Fiona didn't even get a chance to respond before her mother left the room leaving Fiona standing there looking at the spot that her mother used to be with a look of disbelief. 'How could she just set me up on a date like that without telling me?' she asked herself as she ran up to her room.
She knew her mother was stubborn. There would be no way of getting out of this date. She was stuck going on it whether she wanted to or not. It frustrated her more than anything now that she couldn't even live her own life without her mother trying to interfere.
Fiona fell onto her bed and threw her head into the pillow and just screamed into it so that it could muffle it. When she felt like she'd screamed enough, she picked up the phone and called the one person that she knew she could talk to about this without any real problems.
The phone rang only twice before it was picked up by just the person she wished to talk to about this. "Hey," Van said from the other end of the phone. She could tell that he knew it was her through his caller id.
Fiona seemed to find a smile whenever she heard Van's voice. It wasn't like she was in love with him but he was her best friend and she knew that she could tell him anything without having to worry about what would happen. "Hey Van," she said her voice not holding the happiness her face showed.
Van was silent from the other side of the line for a few seconds before he spoke again. "Is something wrong Fiona? You don't sound as happy as you usually are," Van said noticing the hint of sadness in his best friend's voice.
It just started to come out after that. Fiona told him everything that her mother did since she first got home. All about the date and everything. "I don't even know this guy Van. How am I supposed to go on a date with him?" Fiona asked as the back of her head hit the pillow and her hair spilled out all around her.
"I supposed that it's pointless to argue with your mother now?" Van asked and Fiona agreed with him. "I guess you have no choice but to go. Doesn't mean that you have to have a good time though," he said with a hint of mischief that Fiona couldn't help but giggle at.
"I don't want to go out with him though. The guy didn't even have the decency to ask me in person. He just had to ask my mother first. I thought she didn't want me going out with anyone though," Fiona said with a sigh as she rubbed her head where a headache was starting to form.
"Fiona! Get off the phone! You need to get ready now for your date! You don't need to be talking with brats like Flyheight when you need to be getting ready!" her mother yelled pounding on the door before she turned and walked away.
Fiona sighed wishing that she had more time to talk to Van but knew her mother would have a cow if Fiona didn't follow this order. "Sorry Van but I have to go. I'll call you when I get back," Fiona said ready to turn off the phone before Van spoke up again making her bring it back to her ears.
"Yeah I guess so. How about I give you a hand though," he said mischievously. "Maybe I can get you out of this date shorter than you thought you would have to," he said and it was obvious that he was trying to think of a way to do this.
Fiona had to admit that she was curious of what Van could get planed in such a short amount of time. Yet she didn't know if it was possible. "If you can then that'll be great but I really need to go. Like I said, I'll talk to you later," Fiona said hearing her mother pounding on the door again before she placed it down. "I'm off!"
Fiona then went about getting ready for the date. She put on some decent yet casual clothes and then went downstairs to wait for the inevitable date. She just wished she could go out with her friends right then. That would be much better than what she was about to do.
"Fiona!" her mother yelled in a rather disappointed tone. "Go back upstairs and put on a nice dress or something. He's taking you to a very nice restaurant and I don't want you going looking like a hooker!" she screamed at her daughter.
Fiona frowned as she looked down at her outfit. It was casual but it was also pretty modest. She didn't see how her mother could possibly find anything about it to make her say that Fiona looked like a hooker. "There's nothing wrong with this and I don't look like a hooker!" she yelled at her mother.
Claire just glared at the young woman before her and pointed towards the stairs. "Yes you do! Now go back upstairs and change. He'll be here any minute since you decided to talk to long on the phone and then took your time getting ready!" she yelled with a note of finality in her voice.
Fiona didn't understand what her mother was saying. She spent five minutes on the phone and only about thirty getting ready but only because she had to take a shower. She just sighed and walked back upstairs and put on something more formal.
She came back down a few minutes later and her mother didn't seem to have a complaint about the outfit she had on now. Instead she decided to come up with a new argument just to piss Fiona off. "Can't you wear makeup? At least look halfway decent," she yelled at Fiona seeming to get really impatient.
Fiona was really going to start yelling but the sound of the doorbell rang and it seemed to just make Claire give up on her argument. She walked to the door and opened it with a big smile to the boy on the other side.
The boy appeared to be a year or two older than Fiona. His hair was blonde and was smoothed back. He was pretty tall being around 5 feet ten inches. He also had a very confident smirk on his face and it only increased when he saw Fiona.
"It is a pleasure to meet you," he said with a polite bow to Claire which she seemed flattered with. "And you are also very beautiful as well Fiona. My name is Damien," he said walking over to her smoothly and kissing the back of her hand. "You look very lovely. Could do with a little makeup but beautiful nonetheless," he said with a smile that would have many girls swooning.
Fiona wasn't sure whether to be insulted or flattered by his compliments. Makeup wasn't her thing and most of the people she knew always thought she didn't need makeup to look nice, except for her mother that is.
"Come, I have some dinner reservations for us. We'd better hurry or we'll miss them," he said taking a hold of her hand and almost dragged her out of the door when she stumbled on the heels that she hated wearing.
Fiona was really bored as the night seemed to drag on forever. She hated fancy things and this was a really fancy restaurant. Not to mention that her date only seemed to talk about himself the whole time. It was enough to make her wish she was at home so that she could just fall asleep.
"So then I told him that he was a fool because he could never beat me. I'm the best at it," Damien said going on and on about his stuff never asking her anything about Fiona. "Are you listening Fiona?" he asked looking at her and saw that she looked bored but she nodded nonetheless. "Good because I haven't even gotten to the good part yet," he said with a big grin on his face.
Fiona really wished that she had agreed to let Van ruin this date. The guy was a bore and she just wanted to go home. Yet Van didn't even know where they were going. Even Fiona didn't know until they actually got there.
It continued to drag on and on into the night as he talked about himself. They were just about to leave when he finally stopped but it just started up something that was even more annoying than before.
While they waited for the bill to come, Damien scooted his chair over so that he was sitting right next to Fiona. "This has been really fun Fiona. We should do this again sometime. What do you say," he said in a voice that he was trying to make as charming as possible.
"I don't know, maybe," Fiona said although she made a vow to herself that she would never go on a date with the guy again. Watching paint dry would be a better way to spend her time than listening to him talk about himself. She was just too kind to say those words to his face though.
Damien then placed his hand upon Fiona's knee and softly stroked the soft skin before his hand was pushed away by Fiona. "You know. I know of the perfect way for the night to end," he said placing his hand back on and ignored her complaints and attempts to push his hand away. "Let's head back to my place," he said with a grin that he thought would make her want to do anything he said.
"Um… I don't think so sorry," Fiona said desperately trying to push his hand away as it started to move up. This was really scaring her now. "I have to go!" she said standing up and started to walk away.
Damien just threw a lot of cash on the table recklessly and then ran out after Fiona. 'I'm not going to have my night spoiled just because she's afraid of a little intimacy,' he thought as he ran up and caught her by the arm. "What's the rush? The nights only started Fiona," he said trying to sound kind.
"Listen I'm not ready for anything like that!" she yelled getting annoyed at his persistence and how he wouldn't let go of her arm. It was actually starting to hurt her quite a bit. "Let go of my arm!" she said struggling a bit. She was silenced when he crushed his lips hard to hers in a desperate attempt to take control of the situation. This surprised her. It may not have been her first kiss but it wasn't wanted at all.
He pulled back with a huge grin on his face. "That wasn't so bad was it?" he asked leaning in again prepared to take her right there if he had to but he was then smacked across the face really hard. "What the hell was that for!" he yelled at her angrily.
"Let me go now!" Fiona demanded as she pulled really hard finally releasing herself from his grip. Unfortunately she lost her balance in the process and stumbled backwards really quickly before she fell onto the ground really hard. It was hard enough so that it dazed her for a few moments.
Fiona picked herself off the ground but then she heard the sound of something approaching her quickly. She looked over and her eyes widened as she saw a large truck approaching her and it was then that she realized that she was in the middle of the road. She also found that she couldn't move a bone in her body.
She was frozen in terror as she could only seem to watch as it got within a few feet from her. She closed her eyes tightly as she waited for the inevitable to happen. 'This is it? I'm going to die?' she asked herself shaking in fear but still not able to move. Then she felt herself get hit and everything went blank.
